1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to oxazole compounds. More particularly, it relates to oxazole compounds which possess activities for preventing bone loss and increasing bone mass, and thus useful as therapeutic agents for osteoporosis.
2. Prior Arts
Various compounds have been prepared to provide therapeutic agents for osteoporosis, which however leave problems to be improved on regarding both points of activity and side-effect.
4,5-Diaryloxazole-2-alkanoic acid derivatives which show antiinflammatory activity have been known (see U.S. Pat. No. 3,578,671 and Japanese Patent Publication No. Sho 49(1974)-38268).
As the result of studies on 4-aryloxazole compounds, some of the present inventors found that 4-aryloxazole compounds having a substituent at the 2-position possessed activities for lowering blood sugar and improving glucose tolerance.
Our further earnest studies resulted in that 4-aryloxazole compounds having substituents at the 2- and 5-positions were prepared and found to possess activities for preventing bone loss as well as increasing bone mass.